The Prophecy Undone
by hungarian horntail 2005
Summary: Harry and Ginny ache to explore their urges for each other, but are their feelings for each other all they seem…? until an unexpected turn of events and revelations from Harry's past combine to show them aspects of their future... set during HBP. Pls R
1. Chapter 1 Summer at the Lake

**"The Prophecy Undone"**

**Chapter 1 - Summer at the lake…**

Summer had returned to Hogwarts and Harry couldn't remember ever being happier than he was at this moment. It was Saturday, early in the afternoon, just after Quidditch practice and he and Ginny ambled slowly over the grounds together, hand in hand, most of the time just talking and laughing about anything and everything – Harry had never felt so comfortable and at ease in anyone else's company. Most of today's conversation was a rehash of their earlier Quidditch practice (the main one of Harry and Ginny's shared passions), but Harry – having missed Gryffindor's spectacular Quidditch Cup victory a few weeks back – never tired of hearing Ginny eagerly retelling the finer points of their moment of glory. (Not least because the day had ended in them finally and openly declaring their feelings for each other – on top of the already euphoric occasion of their sporting win).

Occasionally as they strolled, during lulls in the conversation, they'd give each other sly grins or long, loving looks that inevitably ended with them having to stop and embrace passionately for several moments. Harry was too wrapped up in Ginny to even care who might be watching, although by now many of the other older students were so busy doing the same thing that the grounds resembled a large, spread out version of the Yule Ball with couples entwined in every corner, oblivious to anything but each other. The teachers seemed to turn a blind eye most of the time as long as students were obviously not "in flagrante" all over the place and were not doing anything untoward in front of younger students. They understood that it was just a combination of raging teenage hormones and a well-deserved distraction prior to the inevitable drudgery and stress of forthcoming exams.

As Harry and Ginny wandered aimlessly along by the shore of the lake, they came to a secluded, woody area and tired from the heat of the midday sun, they decided to sit down in the shade. Harry leaned against the base of a huge tree and Ginny lay between his legs with her head and back resting against his chest, her legs stretched out in front of her; Harry's legs cradling her hips on either side. Harry wrapped his arms around Ginny and pulled her close into him, nuzzling the top of her head and breathing in the heady flowery scent of her soft flaming hair as the breeze caught it and brought it to him. He sighed contentedly and rested his chin on the top of her head, enjoying the shade of the tree and the sound of the leaves rustling above his head. He gazed out across the lake, feeling just as contented as if he'd drunk a whole case of Butterbeer after having won the Quidditch Cup. Harry allowed his mind to drift to scenarios that could possibly be any happier than this moment, but he was having trouble conjuring any up. Then he wondered – maybe if he found out he'd achieved "Outstanding" in all this year's exams… and that Snape had been sacked… or carted off to Azkaban… and that Malfoy had been expelled… or he'd never have to see the Dursley's again…

"_No, this is even better actually"_, he thought to himself and smiled lazily, absently watching something that could have been a tentacle drifting slowly across the surface of the lake.

"What are you grinning at?" Ginny turned and twinkled up at him mischievously, but needed no answer to her question; she was glowing with happiness too. Harry gazed down into her sparkling eyes and felt that familiar jolt of desire gripping the pit of his stomach that happened all the time lately when he looked at Ginny… or when he thought of Ginny... when he kissed Ginny… when he dreamed of Ginny…

Her gaze had also hardened into that fierce, burning look that so often preceded her wrapping herself around him, regardless of where they happened to be at the time and then kissing him hard until they were both breathless. It had got them into trouble a few times when McGonagall had caught them in the corridors (on the last occasion bellowing at them to remember that they were in an Institute of Learning and not a house of ill-repute), but they didn't seem to care. It was like they were both under a spell…

Harry lowered his lips to hers and enfolded Ginny even more tightly in his embrace, kissing her fiercely and hungrily. She turned herself around in his arms to face him and knelt between his legs, now slightly taller than him and smiling down at him. She cupped his face in her hands and stroked his hair, teasing him with little gentle kisses all over his lips and face, all the while gazing deeply into his deep green eyes and smiling. Her hair was so soft and fragrant and Harry felt like he was being enfolded by it – enveloped in a beautiful flaming perfumed cloud – in awe of her radiant face shining out at him from behind it. He was reminded of one of those spectacular summer sunsets where the sun is still blazing away behind incredible red clouds, suffusing everything with a pinkish, golden glow. It was his favourite time to fly when the sky was like that.

Harry breathed her in, unbridled desire coursing through every part of his being. Unable to control himself any longer, he reached up and grabbed Ginny's shoulders, pushing her down on the ground and simultaneously climbing on top of her and pinning her with his weight. He was suddenly shocked by his momentary roughness. Still lying on top of her, but pulling back slightly, supporting his weight on his arms, he breathed hard and looked down at her to check she was ok – he hadn't meant to lose control like that – what if he'd hurt her? He needn't have worried; Ginny was just as breathless and her face was flushed, but she was looking up at him with such burning lust – he was so turned on by the way she was looking at him, he thought he might lose it there and then. He wanted her so badly…

Ginny's arms reached up around his neck, enfolding him and pulling him down onto her, arching her back and pressing her soft breasts into his hard chest. She kissed Harry back as fiercely as he was now kissing her and caressed the taut muscles of his arms and back.

Harry's senses were on total overload. He was keenly aware of everything around him – he could feel the summer breeze ruffling their hair and clothes, he could hear the gentle lapping of the lake near them and the faint buzz of people up at the school far behind them, yet at the same time, he felt curiously detached from everything – they could have been on another planet. Nothing else mattered except this moment – and the two of them, enfolded in each other, drowning in each other.

Harry held Ginny tightly and pressed himself against her entire length. He felt her soft, hot body beneath him, her curves pressed against his hardness, all his muscles straining. His clothes felt hot and too tight, but at the same time, he was all too aware that only a few scraps of cloth were all that separated them and he could feel every curve of Ginny's body beneath his through the flimsy summer dress which was all she was currently wearing (their Quidditch robes cast aside under the tree due to the heat).

Harry's hands seemed to be moving on instinct; one hand moved from stroking Ginny's hair onto her soft neck, then caressed her bare shoulder before moving slowly down until he was cupping the soft swell of her breast, his urgent kisses muffling her gasps of pleasure. As he moved against her, his knee slipped unbidden between her thighs, but they instantly moved willingly apart so that he suddenly found himself lying pressed down hard between her legs… She broke away from his lips and tipped her head back, moaning softly. Her hips ground against him involuntarily and she twined her legs around him. Harry thought he might pass out from the pleasure – he was going to explode…

"Wait – Gin…. NO!" he gasped urgently. Pushing himself up on his arms and slightly away from her, he panted and gulped for air. He'd felt himself losing control and he didn't want it to end yet. Not like this. Not when he wasn't even doing it with her properly. He just needed a moment to calm down and then they could carry on – he was just getting so intoxicated from being really alone with her like this for the first time.

Ginny misunderstanding, pushed herself up on her elbows and said stricken "Oh Harry, I'm sorry! I know – I understand… we can't do it here! What if someone had caught us? It doesn't bear thinking about!" she looked away, down at the ground, her face sick with the implication of what she'd just said. "It's just – I'm so sorry, I got so carried away in the heat of the moment…" She continued on, constantly excusing herself while Harry quickly clambered away and leant against the base of the tree, catching his breath and trying to marshal his thoughts. He now realised what Ginny had been getting at – she was worried about getting caught – and he'd pushed the situation and let himself get so carried away! He kicked himself mentally and tried to calm down and regain control of his senses.

In all honesty, he'd been so reckless with desire that the thought of them getting caught hadn't even crossed his mind. He suddenly thought that the whole school could have come down to the lake to watch them and he probably wouldn't have noticed. He'd almost been too far gone to care if they'd all clapped and given scores for their performance at the end, like a Triwizard Tournament task. As this image came unbidden into his head he almost laughed, but just stopped himself in time, realizing that it would not be appropriate for the moment. He didn't want Ginny to get the wrong impression that he was laughing at her or their situation and as funny as it had been, he didn't want to have to explain that particular thought that had popped into his head.

He glanced over at Ginny from under several strands of damp, sweaty hair that had flopped over his brow giving him a very sexy, dishevelled look. There was no denying what they'd been doing from the look of them. Ginny sat up and started rearranging her clothes so they looked more decent. She currently looked like she'd been wrestling with the giant squid.

"_She deserves better than this!"_ Harry thought fervently. He felt so much for her – he wanted to be able to honour her properly – not have such an intimate act played out in such a potentially public setting, regardless of how much he wanted her! It wasn't his honour he was protecting, it was Ginny's and he wanted to spare her any embarrassment. He could just imagine the kind of things that would be said about her all over the school if they'd been found. Not to mention what Ron would do to them both, he thought ruefully. It was one thing to be doing it, but to be caught in public doing it… It would make what they had seem so cheap… Harry's resolve hardened and he vowed to have more self-control. _"I'd never put her in that situation"_ he thought fiercely. This wasn't some quick teenage fumble. It was so much more than that. His thoughts and feelings for her ran so deep. She meant everything to him. The physical side of it was just an expression of everything he felt for her – he couldn't help himself – she was so intoxicating. And he knew she felt the same way about him. They couldn't keep their hands off each other. Nevertheless, they couldn't do it in this context, he'd wait if he had to. For as long as he had to. He wanted it to be special…

"…it's just, I can't help it". Ginny still gabbled on apologetically. "You turn me on so much, Harry... When we're together like this, it feels so right..." she crooned.

Lost in thought and still distracted whilst coming down from his high, plus steeling his will to be more controlled in future – all the while struggling with the constant longing he still felt for her, Harry hadn't been paying full attention to what Ginny had been saying until gradually her words started to filter through to him. "… I just want us to be together, but it's not like we could be alone when we're at my house in the holidays. You can imagine what Mum would do if she caught us like this!" She shuddered at the thought. Harry half-smiled at her sympathetically. He knew Mrs. Weasley had a very soft spot for him, but he doubted whether it extended as far as letting him have carnal knowledge of her only daughter. Inwardly, he grimaced at the thought of what she'd do to him. To them both. He'd be banished to the Dursley's forever, he thought darkly.

"Harry, I'm going to go crazy over the holidays," Ginny said desperately "we'll be spending so much time together, but we won't ever be able to catch a moment alone. It's far too crowded at my house" she said sadly. "If only we had somewhere to go where we could be in private and no one could ever find us…" she mused, staring off wistfully into the distance. "Just for a couple of hours, at least…"

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Chapter 2 - "Harry's Revelation" to follow...

Hungarian Horntail - England, July 2005


	2. Chapter 2 Harry's Revelation

**"The Prophecy Undone"**

**Chapter 2 - Harry's Revelation...**

The realization came to Harry in a flash. He stared open-mouthed into space. "Of course…" he breathed. "Why didn't I think of it before?" he muttered to himself as he jumped to his feet and grabbed the discarded pile of robes from under the tree. He held out his hand and helped Ginny up, distractedly brushing them both down with one hand and starting to walk quickly back towards the castle.

"Harry! What's wrong? Where are we going?" Ginny protested and had to run to keep up with Harry's lengthy stride. "It's hours until supper time! We can stay out here all day if we want to" she wheedled. "No one will come, it's deserted! Stay here –"

"Don't worry", he interrupted. His eyes bright and shining. "Just come with me. I'll show you. It's good – I promise." His face was alight with triumph.

With this, he started to run. "Come on!" he urged, and Ginny's petite legs had to go at full pelt to keep up with him, but the look on Harry's face had promised so much more than his statement had that she didn't complain and kept pace as best she could.

They finally slowed as they neared the castle steps and then ambled as casually as they could through the doors into the main hallway. Harry glanced around to see if anyone was nearby, but luckily everyone seemed to be outside enjoying the balmy weather. It was far too nice to be indoors in a chilly dank musty castle. Ginny also seemed to think so and started protesting again in urgent whispers as they climbed the stairs. "I don't want to go to the common room Harry – there's bound to be people there and I _want you alone_." She emphasized the last words. " – And you can't possibly think we'll be able to go to the dormitories!" she scoffed "There are so many enchantments protecting them from that sort of thing that our bits would probably fall off if we even tried it..." she said darkly " – you know there are…" Ginny trailed off, sounding deflated.

Mentally congratulating himself for his brilliance, Harry silenced her whingeing with a look and said simply "Trust me, Gin" then winked at her. He was enjoying the suspense of this and couldn't wait to see Ginny's face when they reached their destination and she saw what he was planning. They carried on climbing until they were hurrying along the seventh floor corridor. So far they'd been lucky not to bump into a soul – not even Peeves seemed to be lurking. Just to be on the safe side, Harry put his finger to his lips making sure that Ginny kept quiet and then did a quick scan up and down the corridor. He wished he'd brought the Marauder's Map with him, but he had his Invisibility Cloak at the ready, just in case, as Dumbledore seemed to want him to carry it with him at all times lately. It would hide them both if necessary.

"Harry, what are we doing here?" whispered Ginny petulantly. "I've seen the portrait of the dancing trolls before. And as funny as it is, I'm not really in the mood for it now."

Harry ignored her and started pacing up and down before a blank stretch of wall muttering to himself. Ginny was getting exasperated. She wanted Harry all to herself, so she could concentrate on putting into practice some of the dirtier thoughts that she'd been having about him. She'd been fantasizing about Harry for years, after all and she knew she'd never feel this way about anyone else. Things between them had been hotting up for weeks now and she couldn't wait to finally be with him properly - _"Now that he's finally woken up and noticed me,"_ she thought to herself with a satisfied smirk – then with a pang recalled the deceit of what she'd had to do to get this far with Harry – _"I didn't do anything wrong"_ she justified to herself fiercely _"He just needed a little nudge in the right direction, that's all…"_ She quickly brushed the thought away. Now wasn't the time to confront the issue… But then, why else was he acting so strangely if he didn't suspect...?

Ginny anxiously continued to watch Harry pacing and she distracted herself for a moment by wistfully recalling how close they'd come down at the lake – she couldn't understand why Harry had broken away so suddenly. Especially when the lake had turned out to still be deserted and they hadn't been interrupted as she'd first thought when he'd pulled away. What was he worried about? Mer-people spying on them, for goodness sake! "_Never mind that now_", she fumed to herself. More to the point, why were they now standing in this dusty old disused corridor when they ought to be making an effort to find a place where no one would find them and she could leap on him again for a few blissful moments? She glanced up and down the corridor, assessing it. Surely, he didn't think this place would be private enough for very long? She folded her arms and tapped her foot impatiently. _What was he playing at?_

"Ginny! Quiet – I'm trying to concentrate!" Harry broke off his pacing momentarily and glared at her.

"But what are you trying to do? I don't understand!" she wailed. "Come on - let's just go, before Filch finds us!"

Harry stopped pacing and stared at her with an exasperated, bemused look; hands on hips and paused "Don't you realize where we are? he asked incredulously. He couldn't believe she hadn't caught on yet. Momentarily distracted, all Ginny could think about was how sexy he looked in his Quidditch gear when he stood with his hands on his hips like that and her eyes seemed to glaze over. Harry continued to stare at her, waiting for the penny to drop. "Where we hid from Umbridge last year?" he prompted, his eyes boring into her.

The truth dawned on Ginny suddenly. "You mean – this is where the DA used to meet?" she said excitedly, her eyes sparkling.

"_YES!_ It's where we used to practice. _In private_" he emphasized. "And no one could ever find us!" a fierce light burned in Harry's eyes as he said this.

Ginny looked around her and wondered how she could possibly have forgotten about the room where they'd spent so many happy, fun and useful hours hiding from the exceedingly hateful Dolores Umbridge. Practicing spell after spell and honing their Defence Against the Dark Arts skills under Harry's excellent tutelage; helping them to defend themselves against the evil that they knew one day they'd all have to face – now that Voldemort had returned and his followers were at large once again.

"The corridor looks different somehow" mused Ginny aloud "But then I never came here alone. I'm not sure I'd have found it again by myself. And we were always rushing – trying to make sure we wouldn't be seen. I don't think I paid much attention..." She trailed off, an excited gleam appearing in her eye as she realised what this meant.

"It doesn't matter now, " he waved his hand dismissively and turned towards the wall again. "But you know we have to concentrate so that we can get inside again." whispered Harry urgently. "Come on". He took her hand and they started pacing again along the stretch of blank wall. Harry muttering fiercely under his breath with his eyes closed. He sounded like he was praying.

"Come on…. Come on…." He urged, opening his eyes and staring at the fixed, unchanging blank wall. He cursed under his breath and stood staring at it mutinously. His mind worked furiously, trying to figure out the charm that would grant them access to the Room of Requirement. His efforts were being thwarted in the same way as they had been when he'd stood here recently trying to figure out how to catch Malfoy inside and find out what he was up to. (Except that at the moment, Malfoy was thankfully the last thing on his mind...)

He resumed pacing again, all the while desperately articulating the thoughts _"I need a place to be alone with Ginny… We need to be together in private… We want each other so much!"_ His silent pleas became more fervent and more urgent and he found himself exclaiming in his head **_"WE'RE IN LOVE!" _**

He heard Ginny gasp and for a heart-stopping moment he wondered if he'd said that part aloud. He was still reeling with the shock of actually admitting his true feelings to himself when he looked up at the wall and found himself staring at the handle of the door that he knew would lead them into the Room of Requirement. It had worked.

With a cry of triumph he reached for Ginny with one hand. Grinning wildly and with a gleam in his eye, he grabbed the handle of the door with the other hand and he pulled her through into…

…He and Ginny entered the most tantalizing room Harry had ever seen…

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Chapter 3 - "The Room of Requirement" to follow...

Hungarian Horntail - England, July 2005


	3. Chapter 3 The Room of Requirement

**"The Prophecy Undone"**

**Chapter 3 - The Room of Requirement…**

Harry hadn't known quite what to expect from the Room of Requirement as he knew it changed each time depending on what you needed it for, but when he'd used it as the DA's hideout it had been a big empty classroom with piles of soft cushions so that they could practice stunning and hexing each other safely. The way the room had been then is what he'd vaguely had in mind when he'd had the brainwave of using it so that he and Ginny could be alone in private. They could spread the cushions out all over the floor and nestle down amongst them and take their time to enjoy each other, safe in the knowledge that they would remain undisturbed.

Harry certainly hadn't been expecting the sight that greeted them when they passed through the door this time and it was all he could do not to gape open-mouthed. It was perfect in every way…

It wasn't so much that it was a beautiful room, although it was undoubtedly handsome with lots of heavy wood and leather furnishings and deep, soft rugs. It was more the instant jolt of familiarity that Harry felt when he gazed upon it for the first time. He heard the door click shut behind him and then felt Ginny standing close by his side, breathing an appreciative sigh of "Wow, Harry – this is amazing…", but he was too entranced to notice anything other than the room laid out before him; their urgent mission that a moment ago had meant everything now temporarily forgotten.

Although he'd never been in this particular room before, it instantly felt like home and Harry knew without even having to articulate the thought that this was exactly the sort of home that he could imagine himself owning and living in one day if he ever got his own place.

The room before them appeared to be a huge, open-plan log cabin, that was marvellously light, airy and spacious, while at the same time it seemed extremely homely and comfortable. Every part of it sang to him that he was home. Everywhere you looked, thick, rich wooden logs made up the walls, floor and ceiling. It smelled fantastic. Like being lost deep in the middle of a pine forest. A pair of huge, puffy, overstuffed couches in a beautiful reddish brown hide with an exquisite grain that Harry thought might have been dragon skin dominated the main part of the room. These were set in front of the most enormous, cosy looking cast-iron fireplace Harry had ever seen, that was blazing away merrily to itself and emitting a deeply comforting warmth. Deep fluffy animal skin rugs were laid haphazardly all over the polished wooden floors and finely carved pieces of wooden furniture were arranged artfully around the rest of the room.

Unbidden, a stream of images danced into his head one after the other; he and Ginny sprawled naked and entangled on the deep rug in front of the cosy open fire - he and Ginny all over each other on one of the big dragon skin couches, their limbs entwined - Harry caressing Ginny and thrusting into her as she lay back on the enormous pine dining table, her legs wrapped around his waist - he and Ginny snuggled up in the beautiful huge four-poster bed that was visible through an open door off to one side…

As the various erotic images flashed into his head - even as he thought of them and acknowledged how tempting they were (and privately vowing he'd fulfil every single one of them while they were here) - Harry forced himself to momentarily push them aside so he could concentrate better on his immediate surroundings. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was much more to this place than currently met the eye and he wanted to explore it a bit better first to try and work out the source of this strange feeling of familiarity. After all, they had plenty of time; they wouldn't be missed for hours yet and no one would ever find them anyway...

Ginny was still standing on the spot, gazing around mesmerized and seemingly lost for words for once. Harry let go of her hand and started to move slowly around the room, taking everything in. He kept feeling that he'd been here before – no, that wasn't right – he didn't know exactly how to make sense of it, but the room was definitely familiar. He _felt_ he knew this place, but couldn't understand how.

Harry stopped by a large window and gazed outside. He was astounded when he didn't see the summery grounds of Hogwarts that he'd left behind looking back at him. Instead, the most amazing snow-filled mountainous landscape greeted his eyes and his heart soared at the sheer beauty of the scene laid out before him. The cabin appeared to be set back on a sheltered ledge near the top of a range of breathtakingly rugged snow-capped mountains. There was nothing else around apart from the odd patch of sparse pine forest a bit further down the mountain slopes. Snow was falling gently all around and a weak wintry sun occasionally poked through the cloudy grey skies making the snowscape sparkle and glitter. He had no idea where they could be, but he'd never felt such a sense of peace, safety, contentment and belonging all at once, even at Hogwarts. He wanted to stay here forever…

His reverie was suddenly broken when he heard Ginny say, as if from a great distance away "Harry, I need to talk to you – it's important." she sounded really worried, almost scared.

"Hmmm…? murmured Harry distractedly. He didn't want to tear his eyes away from what he was seeing, but her tone sounded serious, so with great difficulty he brought his attention away from the compelling scene outside the window and turned his head slightly to glance at Ginny. She looked wretched; still standing awkwardly near the door where they'd entered, wringing her hands and looking shifty.

Ginny couldn't deceive herself – or Harry – any longer that what she'd done was innocent. She had to tell him. Being in this place made her realize that. This was no longer just some quick teenage fumble in the woods; this was serious now and she realised why Harry had brought her here and what they were about to do. She couldn't let this happen. She couldn't let him go all the way - knowing that she'd got him here under false pretences…

"Ginny, what is it? What's up?" Seeing the look on her face, Harry had rushed over to her. He didn't understand why she was upset; he thought this was what she'd wanted. Ginny was still rooted to the spot, staring at the floor and Harry put his hands on her shoulders, holding her at arms length and trying to get her to look up at him. He put his hand under her chin and tilted it up to make her look at him and saw that her face was awash with tears.

"_Hey_, Gin, it's ok. Whatever it is, it's ok…" he soothed, "Come on – what's this all about?" He hugged her tightly and felt her sob against his shoulder.

"Oh Harry! I'm _so_ sorry! I feel so awful! she cried, clinging to him tightly. Harry was very confused, but shushed her softly and started to lead her over to one of the couches. He sat her down gently and then pushed her hair back off her face and wiped her eyes. She sniffed loudly and looked up at him sheepishly from under her fringe. The look on her face was still wretched. She took a deep breath, as if to prepare herself and began to speak.

"Harry, I'm so sorry – I've done something really bad…" she blurted. "We shouldn't be here. I mean – I don't think you should be here with me – under the circumstances…" she trailed off.

"Ginny, what are you on about? Harry said, rather more tersely than he'd meant to. He could see she was upset and didn't want to upset her further, but he was getting quite exasperated with the way girls could sometimes be so weird. You could never work them out; they always started crying at the strangest moments, he thought despairing to himself. "Ginny, I thought you'd be pleased about this." he frowned "You said you wanted to go somewhere private". Harry was rapidly wishing he'd never even thought of coming here. "_Why do girls have to always be so complicated?"_ he thought to himself ruefully. Up until now, he'd thought he and Ginny were on the same level and didn't need to play games with each other.

"No – it's not that!" Ginny interjected hastily. "I _do_ want to be here. _I really _

_do _–" She looked Harry straight in the eye. "…but I don't think you do." she finished quickly and seemed to slump sadly as she said it.

"I don't get it Ginny. Of course I want to be here. What do you want me to say…?" Harry snapped in exasperation. He mentally checked himself at the sight of Ginny's distraught face and made an effort to soften his tone slightly. "Look, whatever it is – just tell me. It'll be ok." He said kindly.

"Harry…" Ginny began tentatively. "I've been meaning to tell you for ages… I've wanted to confess for so long, but I knew you'd be angry – I didn't know how to tell you – and we've been so happy…" she continued haltingly "I – I hoped it wouldn't matter. I just didn't want to spoil anything…" Ginny paused for a second and then blurted suddenly. "Oh, Harry! I'm so sorry, but I can't keep it a secret any more –"

"…I – I spiked you with love potion!"

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Chapter 4 - "Amortentia in absentia" to follow...

Hungarian Horntail - England, July 2005


	4. Chapter 4 Amortentia in Absentia

**"The Prophecy Undone"**

**Chapter 4 - Amortentia in absentia…**

Ginny had started sobbing again and buried her face in her hands. "I know you'll hate me now Harry!" she wailed in despair, her wrenching sobs muffled behind her hands "I understand if you want to finish with me!" she blubbed.

Harry looked momentarily like he'd been clubbed by a troll. He didn't register at first what Ginny had said, then as her words sank in he started to feel a bit ill. "When… when was this…?" he murmured dazedly. This couldn't be happening… What he'd been feeling – it had seemed so real… Harry shifted slightly away from Ginny in his seat. He needed some space to breathe – to think…

Ginny glanced up timidly and said quickly in a small frightened voice "Ages ago… Not long after I split up with Dean… I'd been trying to get you to notice me for ages, Harry and I thought it actually seemed to be working. I noticed you looking at me more and I thought – well, I thought breaking up with Dean might mean that you'd finally make a move. At least I hoped so anyway – I'd kind of sensed that maybe you wanted to. But you _still_ didn't…" Ginny paused.

Seeing that Harry wasn't going to add anything to the conversation – he still looked too stunned – Ginny ploughed on. "So I did it on the spur of the moment and gave you a spiked fairy cake one night in the common room when there weren't many of us in there –" The look of horror on Harry's face momentarily silenced Ginny and then made her exclaim quickly "It was really, really weak potion Harry – one tiny drop – just to see what happened." She said lamely, knowing that nothing she said could possibly justify spiking her boyfriend. "I just wanted to give you a nudge in the right direction…" she trailed off sadly, not knowing what to add, but knowing that she'd said all she needed to – the damage was done. "Harry – I didn't expect _this_ to happen! Honestly!" Ginny said desperately.

Harry looked at her incredulously, through narrowed eyes. Her hysterical voice seemed as if it was coming from the other end of a long tunnel. He was no longer really listening. Unconsciously, he shifted further away from her on the couch; he didn't want to be near Ginny at the moment, he felt queasy. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. _He'd trusted her! _

He vaguely recalled the night when Ginny had brought a box of fancy fairy cakes into the common room. He remembered that they'd been very nice cakes – Ginny had offered them round saying that Mrs. Weasley had sent them to her and he loved Mrs. Weasley's cooking; he could never resist it. Harry would have treated anything Fred and George offered him with distrust, but he'd never imagined in his wildest dreams that Ginny would ever trick him like that. Harry remembered now with faint disgust how ridiculously Ron had behaved when he'd accidentally eaten the spiked chocolates that Romilda Vane had originally intended for him and the havoc that had nearly ensued from it – if he hadn't have been there to stop Ron making a complete idiot of himself...

Harry couldn't stand the humiliation. Is this why he'd been acting like such a love sick prat these past months? Had Ginny been spiking him all along? When he and Ginny had finally got together recently, he'd been elated. Or at least he thought he had been. Could he have been more wrong about the whole thing...? Harry shook his head, trying to make sense of the jumble of thoughts and emotions swirling around his brain and body.

But the weird thing was – thought Harry suddenly – he hadn't remembered feeling any different about Ginny that night... It occurred to him that he'd been obsessing about her for ages before then. Surely the potion would have kicked-in and made him act all weird straight away – like Ron had about Romilda? He'd have probably got up and swept Ginny into his arms then and there in front of everyone, but he hadn't. It was still a while after that – when Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup – that Harry had actually got the nerve or the opportunity to act on the impulse that he'd been feeling for ages…

Harry was vaguely aware that Ginny was speaking again "…I know you probably don't want to be with me anymore after this, Harry." She said flatly. "I understand. I'd probably feel the same if it was me. I just wanted to tell you because I couldn't let us go any further under the circumstances. That would have been worse. I've been so worried about the whole thing…" she gabbled. "Something obviously went wrong. I mean – it shouldn't have had that effect – I don't understand… It was only one tiny drop, after all…" she mused, almost to herself.

Harry's thoughts had suddenly dredged up recollections of all the times recently – since they'd publicly become an item – when Ginny had poured his pumpkin juice for him at the dinner table and could have kicked himself for not realizing. He thought she'd just been being sweet. Then, Harry vaguely registered what Ginny had just said and abruptly snapped out of his thoughts. "So – it was only the once? You haven't spiked me at all since then? You – you haven't been slipping it to me regularly?" he said slowly, still trying to sort through his thoughts and decide how angry he actually was with Ginny. His feelings of initial confusion and then dazed comprehension were slowly giving way to feelings of anger, but he now wanted to hear how and why Ginny had done this.

"No!" she exclaimed, looking horrified at the suggestion. "No, it was just that one time. I swear it Harry." Ginny began to explain. "Professor Slughorn had shown us how to brew it one day in class and that was when I got the idea. He said mine was the best in the class, so at the end of the lesson, I just kept a tiny bit of it. I never really meant to use it. I was just so down after I broke up with Dean and then I thought you and I might…" she tailed off at the sight of Harry's thunderous look, then continued quickly, "But I don't even know why I did it! I regretted it as soon as I'd done it, but then nothing seemed to happen straight away, so I thought it probably hadn't worked. Like I said, it was really weak anyway, I wasn't expecting it to even do anything – you weren't meant to turn into a head-case or anything, like that time when Ron took it accidentally –" She hastily broke off when she saw Harry's grimace of disgust and she realised how he must be feeling. "It was just supposed to make you notice me..." She said sheepishly.

Harry didn't respond, but he no longer looked as angry; he appeared to be mulling over her words so Ginny risked continuing "And then, when it didn't seem to work, I didn't think any more about it until –" She paused. "Well, until – you know – when we actually got together. Then I thought perhaps something had gone wrong. That perhaps it had a slow and cumulative effect. I mean, how else can we explain this – being here?" she finished, sounding dejected and gesturing around her at the magnificent room they were sitting in. "The past few weeks have all been a bit "fast", don't you think?" she mused. "Not that I'm complaining!" she added hastily.

Harry slowly felt his anger draining away as comprehension dawned. Despite his initial anger, he'd been taking in everything that Ginny had been saying and his anger had now given way to understanding and something akin to amusement. He couldn't really blame Ginny, he supposed. Not when he thought of all the crazy and occasionally nefarious schemes he'd privately been plotting to try and get Dean out of the picture and get Ginny to himself. If Ginny could have seen into his head and found out some of the things that Harry had been thinking over the past months since he'd first started fixating about her, she probably wouldn't be feeling so apologetic about spiking him with potion (that so obviously hadn't even worked) – she'd be clubbing him with a broomstick instead. He almost smiled. He'd only been momentarily angry because he thought he'd been acting out of control and out of character; that someone else might have been manipulating him. Now that he was sure this wasn't the case, he was beginning to find the whole thing rather amusing.

He glanced over at Ginny. She looked up at him warily and misinterpreting his continued silence as anger, she started to get up to leave. "Sorry I messed things up so badly, Harry." She said sadly by way of farewell as she stood up. "I really didn't mean to be so stupid. I only did it because I care about you so much. I hope you know that…" Ginny turned to go.

"Ginny, wait!" Harry jumped up and went to her. He stood in front of her, blocking her exit and looked at her tenderly. He saw that fresh tears had sprung into her eyes. "It's ok. I'm not annoyed." He said gently, taking her hand. "Don't even worry about it. The potion didn't work" he smiled at her.

"What– ? Are you sure? How – how do you know…?" Ginny stuttered, looking up at Harry and frowning in confusion, blinking up at him through her tears.

"Lots of reasons: But for a start, I don't think you put enough potion in the cake, from what you said, for it to actually do anything." Harry smiled. "Also, because if it _had_ worked, the effect would have been instant and I don't remember feeling any different at the time. I mean, I didn't leap up and grab you or anything–"

Ginny interrupted him. "But that's what I was trying to tell you Harry – it wouldn't necessarily have been a very noticeable effect, it was really weak, but I assumed I must have done something wrong when I brewed it and that the effect maybe grew stronger over time–"

Harry cut her off in mid-sentence, "But _mainly_," he emphasized, an amused look dancing in his eyes "because love potion doesn't work on someone that already loves you." he finished, grinning down at Ginny and her stunned expression. "Don't you get it, Gin?" he paused. "I've been nuts about you for ages – most of this year in fact – you could have hit me with the whole bottle and it wouldn't have increased how I feel about you."

A huge grin spread across Ginny's face and she suddenly looked radiantly happy; a huge sense of relief and euphoria spreading through her. "How do you know that though, Harry?" she asked, just to make sure. "I mean about the potion." She clarified hastily. She didn't want Harry to think she was pushing her luck and fishing for more declarations of love from him. She was already ecstatic with the one she'd just received.

"Oh. Er - well, ever since I've been Slughorn's "Golden Boy" this year, I've been paying a bit more attention in Potions. I heard him mention it once in class when he brewed it up for us and then I checked it out in the Half-Blood Prince's potion book; there was a footnote that said Amortentia won't work if the person administering it is already someone that the drinker has feelings for. They won't notice a thing!" Harry blinked in surprise that he'd actually managed to retain this fact - another thing he owed to the Half-Blood Prince. Hermione would have been insanely proud of him that he'd actually paid attention in class for once. He smiled to himself.

"Oh, Harry, you don't know how worried I've been!" sighed Ginny, relieved, laying her head against Harry's chest and snuggling into him. Harry wrapped his arms around her and held her close, resting his chin on the top of her head and smiling.

"I felt so bad about it and I felt sure you'd dump me if you ever found out." Ginny continued. "I really wanted to believe that you liked me as much as I liked you, but I couldn't help feeling that the potion must have had something to do with it." she suddenly looked up at him, her lips inches from his "We are ok, aren't we? Are you still angry?" she asked softly.

"That depends…" Harry half-frowned at her, pretending to be stern "…on how you make it up to me…" He grinned and raised his eyebrows at her suggestively and she giggled and hugged him tighter.

A sense of warmth and contentment came over them both as they stood there hugging and then Harry suddenly remembered something; given what had just passed between them, he thought it might be important to mention it. "Er – Ginny…" he began, unsure where to start.

"Hmmm?" she said dreamily, still snuggling into Harry's chest, basking in a feeling of intense relief that things were still ok between them.

"Erm – well, since we are on the subject of confessions…" he ventured. "I think I'd better come clean about something…" Ginny raised her eyebrows at him quizzically; her happy feeling rapidly sliding away and said warily. "Yeah… go on…"

"Well, erm… when you broke up with Dean, Hermione told me that you'd got annoyed at him one night because he pushed you and then you had a big row about it and broke up. Apparently, you'd said he kept helping you through the portrait hole, like you couldn't climb through yourself and it used to make you annoyed-"

"Yeah, so?" Ginny interrupted, still looking puzzled.

"Well… it wasn't Dean. It was me." Harry said. Seeing Ginny still looked puzzled, he continued. "I mean, in the portrait hole. It wasn't Dean that pushed you. It was me. I happened to be sneaking out with the Invisibility Cloak on, just as you and Dean were coming back in and I brushed against you accidentally. Dean didn't push you. I did." Harry finished.

Ginny's mouth opened and her eyes widened into a look of amused mock outrage and she punched Harry lightly on the arm. "You git!" she laughed and shook her head incredulously. "Poor Dean." she sighed. "No wonder he was so annoyed. It just made me really mad that he kept denying it and I kept on and on at him until-"

"I'm really sorry Gin." Harry said and genuinely sounded it. "Well, I'm not actually sorry you broke up with him," he said hastily "but I'm sorry to have been responsible for it."

"Don't be daft!" Ginny laughed. "I'd have dumped him anyway!" seeing Harry's look of amused shock at her callousness, she continued "Well, I suppose I was just looking for any old excuse… and there you were, giving me just the thing I needed - you devious git!" she smiled up at him. "I tell you what though Harry, it's a good job we ended up together - we seem to be a match for each other in deviousness! …Or should that be deviancy…?" she twinkled up at him suggestively.

Harry grinned. He gazed down at Ginny and his grin faded into a look of desire. "Now… where were we…?" Harry whispered as he lowered his lips to hers and kissed her deeply. When they finally broke apart after several sultry moments and gazed into each other's eyes deeply, Harry wordlessly took Ginny's hand and started to lead her slowly and purposefully back to the couch, all the while never breaking his gaze; Ginny staring back at him meaningfully and longingly.

They sank down onto the couch together, wrapped in each other's arms, kissing furiously, yet somehow the mood was different; they both felt it. Their lips broke apart for a moment and they looked at each other, smiling slightly, but wary nonetheless. Neither of them wanted to let the other one down.

"Actually Harry, I was thinking... Ginny ventured tentatively. "We don't have to do anything right now, do we? she said, thinking Harry might be annoyed that she was teasing him. But his face just broke into a grin and he said "Nah - it's fine. Let's just sit and chill out for a bit." the relief evident in his tone.

"We can stay here as long as we want to though, can't we? We're not going to be missed for hours." Ginny justified. "Besides, we can always come back now we've found this place." she mused, while snuggling closer to Harry and stroking his hair absently.

"Yeah, 'course." said Harry. He paused. Now that he and Ginny had made their peace and the mood was relaxed again, he was insanely curious about this place. His eyes had been darting all around the cabin; trying to make sense of that disquieting feeling of familiarity that had crept back again. However, he was careful not to give Ginny the impression that he was no longer interested in her. "But as we're here, we might as well have a look around a bit." he concluded, trying to sound casual. "What d'you reckon?" he looked at Ginny to gauge her reaction.

Ginny shrugged amiably and said "Yeah, ok. Why not?" Her curiosity about the place was also getting the better of her and she was already getting off the couch to join Harry in exploring. "I'd love to know what this place really is." she murmured, looking round and taking it all in. "I'll say this Harry - you know how to impress a girl on a date!" she laughed.

Harry was moving towards the huge window that dominated almost one side of the cabin. "You have _got_ to see this!" he exclaimed, looking back at Ginny still standing by the couch. "I meant to show you earlier, when we first came in." he said and pointed at the stunning snowscape that had mesmerized him when he'd first arrived in the cabin.

Ginny appeared at his side and her mouth opened wide with shock and awe. "Harry, this is incredible!" she exclaimed, looking amazed. "Where do you reckon we are?"

"No idea!" Harry chuckled. "But it's brilliant, don't you think?" he enthused. "Could you imagine living somewhere as amazing as this and having that as your view every day?" he said.

"Yeah, right! I wish!" laughed Ginny sarcastically. She hadn't been able to keep a touch of bitterness out of her voice. The day she would ever get anywhere near a house like this, she thought, was probably the day that the Goblins at Gringott's developed a sudden insane urge to become charitable and decided to deposit several hundreds of thousands of Galleons into the Weasley vault out of sheer kindness...

Harry gave Ginny a sympathetic look, realising what she must be thinking, but didn't reply. They continued to examine the snowscape silently until something that gleamed outside in the weak wintry sun caught Harry's attention out of the corner of his eye. He followed the source of the faint metallic gleam and found himself looking at an enormous great black motorbike that was parked outside the cabin on a large raised sheltered porch to keep it safe from the elements. Harry couldn't understand how he'd missed it when he'd looked out at the snowscape before. _"Hang on,"_ he thought _"Sirius had a bike like th-"_ The realization suddenly hit him like a bludger to the head. This wasn't just a bike like the one Sirius had had. This _was _Sirius's bike!

Harry's mind started churning out feverish thoughts: Maybe Sirius was here! Maybe this room was a way he could communicate with him again! _"Yeah! This is the Room of Requirement, after all!"_ Harry thought urgently. It must have read him and interpreted how much he still missed Sirius and how badly he'd wanted to see him and talk to him every day since Sirius had been gone! He couldn't believe he hadn't thought of this before! That must be why they were here - why the room had let them in! It was Sirius's way of still keeping in touch with him!

Elated, Harry began to run around the place like a man possessed, checking inside every room and laughing and calling for Sirius, shouting his name over and over again at the top of his voice as he opened and slammed a succession of doors with increasing desperation only to find each room as empty as the last.

"Harry! What are you doing? There's no one else here!" called Ginny, looking confused and a little bit worried at the sight of Harry running around the cabin like a mad man with no explanation. She'd backed away and was now standing near the spot where she'd first come in at the back of the room, as if she were too wary to enter any further again.

Harry ignored her and carried on searching the rooms, calling Sirius's name louder and more urgently. _"He must be here!"_ he thought furiously. _"Why else would the room show me this? What's it trying to tell me!"_

He was just checking a door back near where they'd come into the room (that turned out to be nothing more than a broom closet) when suddenly, he felt the atmosphere in the room change. "Harry - look!" Ginny whispered urgently. He whipped round to look back into the room and saw everything start to softly shimmer; subtle changes were happening all around them as he and Ginny watched warily, their mouths agape. Harry's heart leaped at the realization that this meant he might get to see Sirius...

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Chapter 5 - "The Past is a Painful Place" to follow...

Hungarian Horntail - England, July 2005


	5. Chapter 5 The Past is a Painful Place

**"The Prophecy Undone"**

**Chapter 5 - The Past is a Painful Place...**

Photographs in frames, clothes, books and other personal touches started appearing all over the cabin wherever the shimmering light danced. Subtle changes happened to the furnishings and various personal items such as travelling cloaks hanging on hooks and brooms by the door started to appear; as if the cabin's owners were reasserting their occupancy.

"Harry, what's happening?" Ginny sounded wary. Harry had almost forgotten she was still standing there, so intent was he on finding out what this room was trying to show him. He knew that there was a point to all this, he just had to figure it out.

"It's ok Ginny", he said soothingly, moving back to her side. "Don't worry. It's going to be ok. This is a good place – I can feel it. Let's just see what happens." Harry didn't entirely believe it, but he was too curious to leave and he wanted to stop Ginny leaving at all costs. He took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly and they stood back and leaned against the window ledge so that they could take in the whole room at a glance and not miss any new clues that might appear.

The place started to look lived-in and homely as more things appeared and settled themselves around the place. Pots, pans and other culinary paraphernalia now lay strewn around the small kitchen that was tucked away in a far corner; as if a meal had recently been cooked and eaten. Newspapers appeared on a sturdy low table next to one of the big couches. A baby's toy - a small wooden pull-along train that was moving in slow circles by itself - had also appeared on a previously bare patch of floor near the big fireplace which still blazed comfortingly.

Harry noticed that the light in the room had also changed somehow and turned to see that it was coming in from the window behind them. The seasons had changed outside and although the landscape was still largely snowbound, here and there large tufts of grass and spring buds poked out of the ground, stretching themselves gratefully towards the warm spring sun that now shone cheerfully down.

The shimmering seemed to stop abruptly and Harry warily stepped forward to examine some of the articles that had not been there a moment ago. He was particularly interested in the photographs on the mantelpiece as he thought they'd probably offer the most clues and stepped purposefully towards them to see what they contained. As he picked one up to inspect it, he nearly dropped it in shock -

He had to lean against the mantelpiece for a moment to steady himself as he thought he might otherwise collapse at any second. Ginny rushed forward immediately, exclaiming "Harry! What's wrong?" and put her arm around his waist to hold him up. Harry was still holding the picture up and staring fixedly at it, breathing heavily, his eyes wide from shock. Ginny looked at what he was holding and gasped. She'd seen a picture similar to this recently - Harry had shown her - and realised that this picture was of James and Lily Potter - Harry's parents! Furthermore, they were holding a baby. A baby who was undeniably Harry.

"Harry, why is all this here?" Ginny asked fearfully, her voice tremulous "Why is this room showing you your parents?"

"I don't know" said Harry, his voice suddenly croaky "but I know I'm not leaving here until I've found out." he said determinedly.

Harry's other hand came up and gently caressed the image of his Mum and Dad cradling him lovingly and smiling joyously as they proudly held him up for the camera. The baby that was clearly him (although without the distinctive lightning bolt scar on his head yet) was chuckling gleefully at the camera - probably laughing at Sirius whom Harry imagined must have taken the picture. All of them blissfully unaware of the horror that awaited them not long after this picture must have been taken.

He stared hard the happy scene for a moment longer and swallowed the lump that had come up into his throat before putting the picture back gently and then peering at the others arranged around it on the mantelpiece. Sure enough, there was one of Sirius grinning madly, but still looking young and handsome with a devilish glint in his eye. He was holding baby Harry against him with one arm and he must have taken the picture with the camera held at arms length in the other because the snap had a sort of improvised charm that showed it hadn't been posed. Harry was being jiggled by his godfather and they were both laughing madly, James and Lily were just visible in the background, smiling and holding hands, unaware that they'd been caught in the picture too. Most of these pictures looked like they'd been taken outside the cabin where it seemed they'd all gone to play with Harry in the snow.

Harry glanced around quickly at the other photos and with another jolt noticed a picture of what must have been his parents' wedding day. His eyes momentarily swam with tears as he saw how happy their faces looked; he watched for a while as James and Lily alternately looked into the camera and then back at each other with rapt expressions on their faces. He gripped the mantelpiece to steady himself and had to look away for a moment.

Harry had been given pictures before, by various people that had known his parents, but none of them had the intimacy and charm of these impromptu family snaps. He'd have given anything up until now to see a picture of him and his parents together like this - happy and carefree. He'd often supposed that pictures like this had no longer existed. After his parents' deaths and Sirius's incarceration, their home had probably been stripped for evidence by the Aurors (and modified so that any surrounding Muggles couldn't see the destruction); the remaining contents subsequently disposed of, or held at the Ministry in a vault somewhere. That is, what hadn't already been destroyed in the fight with Voldemort. By all accounts the house had been reduced to not much more than a pile of rubble.

Seeing these pictures of his parents now meant more to him than anything he'd ever seen previously. They seemed so real and tangible and made him feel like he really knew them. Like he still knew them. He closed his eyes... he concentrated hard and thought he could almost remember the day when most of these pictures had been taken; the tinkle of carefree laughter, the crisp tang of the frosty air, the crunch of the fresh snow underfoot as they played happily and the warm enveloping arms of his family enfolding him as he giggled with joy... But he knew that it was impossible and he was just wishing... Nevertheless, it still felt like it was the closest he'd ever got to being really near to his parents and feeling what their life together must have been like before it had been so cruelly ripped apart by Voldemort.

Harry staggered back and sank down onto one of the couches in despair. He leaned forward and sank his head into his hands. Ginny sat next to him and stroked his back, murmuring comforts that he didn't acknowledge. The topmost newspaper on the low table beside the couch caught his eye. The articles on the front page reminded him of the ones that currently appeared all over the Daily Prophet; warnings, bad news, and more bad news - reports of dark magic everywhere, horrific killings and the inevitable deadly advance of Voldemort and his evil followers. He looked at the date - it showed a day in April around sixteen years ago - roughly six months before Voldemort's deadly Halloween attack on Harry's parents.

Harry took a deep breath and looked up, but stared off distantly into the fire. "Ginny, I think I know where we are now. I know what this place is", said Harry flatly. Ginny had been sitting patiently and quietly next to him on the couch. Clearly at a loss to know what to do or say, she just comforted him gently by stroking his back and waited for him to continue speaking.

Harry continued to stare into the depths of the fire as if in a trance. "This is my parents' old house. This is where they used to live. Where we all lived..." his voice still had a flat dead tone, but was sounding stronger now. "I know this isn't where they died though. They were in hiding then. I know that much. They'd gone to some Muggle village. I think it was called Godric's Hollow or something. I'm sure I heard Sirius mention it at some point..."

He blinked and looked away from the fire, the trance broken. "I think they originally lived here and Sirius must have lived in Godric's Hollow - " He paused, trying to piece it all together before speaking again. His voice sounded more confident now. "I think Sirius must have persuaded my Mum and Dad to swap houses at some point when they knew they were in danger from the Death Eaters." He continued haltingly, "Just think; no one would expect them to do something as simple as swap houses if they were trying to go into hiding." Harry paused, then exclaimed "Yes! It explains Sirius's bike being outside just now - he definitely lived here at some point" he mused, as if thinking aloud. "I'm certain that's what this room is trying to show me." Harry said finally.

Harry got up and started to pace, putting his theory together as he went. "I'm sure that's what they did", he continued quickly, now with more conviction. "...and then when they cast the Fidelius charm so that no one but the Secret Keeper could find them, they ensured each other's safety! Voldemort wouldn't be able to see my Mum and Dad in Sirius's house, nor Sirius in theirs - not even if he pressed his ugly nose against the windows. The houses would just appear empty, as if they'd fled. They'd remain completely hidden, even right under Voldemort's nose! It would seem as if they'd all just disappeared off the face of the earth!" he finished triumphantly.

Ginny still looked like she was having trouble keeping up with these developments. Harry knew Ginny wasn't as up on all these events as Ron and Hermione were – they would have understood straight away, so he tried to clarify it as best he could. "Don't you see, Gin? pressed Harry. "That's why they switched to Pettigrew!" Harry was in full flow now and became more animated as he continued to explain. "I've wondered so often about why they might have done that, but it all makes sense now - the Fidelius charm in this case would only work if the Secret Keeper was a third party or they wouldn't all be able to stay hidden; they couldn't just swap houses and keep Sirius as my Mum and Dad's Secret Keeper. It would mean Sirius would still be visible and therefore vulnerable to attack at my parents' house. By using Pettigrew, who they believed they could trust with all their lives -" Harry broke off, a bitter look on his face as he remembered Wormtail's betrayal. "...they thought they'd be safe.." he finished lamely.

Harry seemed to crumple again as he stood there and the grim realization hit him all over again. Ginny jumped up and led him gently back to the couch, soothing him with platitudes as they went. Harry didn't hear her. He burned with anger all over again at the incomprehensible betrayal. How could any of the friends have ever guessed in advance what treachery Pettigrew would be capable of? It would be like Hermione selling-out him or Ron to Voldemort someday. It was unbearable to think of...

No wonder Sirius had immediately gone and hunted Pettigrew down when it had happened, Harry thought. It sounded like if he hadn't have done, then he'd have been a goner too, as Pettigrew had undoubtedly sold Sirius out at the same time. If Sirius hadn't have been tipped off about what had happened to James and Lily and gone on the rampage, he'd probably have been sitting here calmly in this house and Voldemort would have undoubtedly come for him next. As it happened though, everything had still worked out in Pettigrew's and Voldemort's favour, Harry thought ruefully. They'd still managed to destroy Sirius just as effectively as if he'd shared the Potters' fate; by pinning Peter's "murder" on him and thereby condemning him to twelve long years in Azkaban - disgraced, discredited and out of the way, with the weight of his friends' deaths on his conscience. A fate worse than death to Sirius.

Even though not much of the Room's revelations - other than the realisation of this house having been his parents' original home - had been news to him, Harry still couldn't get over the wretchedness and injustice of the situation, no matter how many times he had to face it. Every time he thought he'd put it behind him or somehow come to terms with it, he would be forced to relive the whole nightmare of his parents being taken away from him again. The hurt would never go away, the wound kept being ripped open. He hated feeling so helpless; he knew that there was nothing in the world he could do to change any of it...

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Chapter 6 - "Rage and Despair" to follow...

Hungarian Horntail - England, July 2005


	6. Chapter 6 Rage and Despair

**"The Prophecy Undone"**

**Chapter 6 - Rage and Despair...**

Harry rose suddenly and made a snap decision to leave. He'd had enough. This whole escapade had been fraught enough already and he didn't want to risk hanging around to see what other painful events the room might dredge from his past. No matter how important they were. "Come on Ginny, let's go." He held out his hand to her. "I'm so sorry about all this," he sighed ruefully. "You can probably guess this wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I brought you here." He tried a half-hearted smile, but just couldn't seem to manage it and he grimaced instead.

Ginny stood and took his hand, but ventured tentatively, "Harry, don't you want to find out more about this place while we're here? It seems a shame to go now, you might be getting close to something import-"

"I've had quite enough for one day, thanks" he interrupted, his tone was icy and he dropped Ginny's hand like it had scalded him. "I'm not hanging around to see if this place decides to bring Voldemort out for the second act of this freak show and show him murdering my parents in full gory detail!" he thundered.

"Harry, I didn't mean-!" Ginny tried urgently, but Harry cut her off.

"Yeah, I can see how it might be a shame to miss that particular floorshow!" he spat savagely. "I'm sure it's really entertaining - if it's not _your_ parents!" Harry was vaguely aware that he was being vile and irrational and he didn't mean to take it out on Ginny, but he couldn't help it. He felt so cornered and he knew he had to get out of this place or he'd end up lashing out at the person he cared for most. He'd turned his back on Ginny abruptly and made to leave the cabin, uncaring and numb to anything other than the prospect of getting out.

"Harry! Please – wait!" Ginny didn't think it would be helpful at this point to remind him that it was hardly likely that they'd witness Voldemort killing James and Lily as Harry had already told her that his parents hadn't died here, but she knew it could be very difficult to reason with Harry when he got like this. Ginny wondered frustratedly how many more arguments they were going to have to endure today.

"Are you coming then?" he said forcefully, without even a backward glance and his tone implied that he couldn't care less whether she came with him or not. He was already halfway across the room and fully intent on leaving her. Ginny was immediately cowed into silence and bowed her head, wary of what to say next for fear of upsetting him further, but quietly steeling her resolve; as the only other girl in a family of seven men, Ginny had formidable powers of reasoning and manipulation that could put any of her highly skilled powers of witchcraft to shame and she was determined to find out what was going on.

Moreover, she felt she had to try and get through to Harry while she still had the chance. They couldn't leave now. She knew that they must be here for a very good reason and she doubted whether the room had finished with them yet. It just didn't make sense otherwise. She was sure there must be more and wanted to help Harry solve whatever it was that the room was trying to tell them. Besides, if they went now, would they ever find this place again? She didn't know what Harry had said to grant them access in the first place and she doubted whether he'd share it with her now after what had just happened.

Ginny knew she had to choose her words carefully and she was still working out what to say to Harry when she heard a roar of pure anguish and rage that shook her from her thoughts. Her head snapped up to see him kicking and beating the wall with frustration and anger. Even despite what Harry had just witnessed (and Ginny didn't doubt that it had been heart-wrenching), she still thought his current behaviour might be a bit excessive and inwardly despaired of Harry's savage temper that seemed to often lurk just below the surface.

She stood, still rooted to the spot when she heard his blood-curdling cry. Before she had a chance to react further, Harry rounded on her with a face so full of rage and venom that she recoiled. He saw her flinch with fear and seemed to finally realize how deranged he was being. He seemed to deflate momentarily and the eerie savage gleam was gone from his eyes, but he was still shaking with fear and anger when he said urgently in a hoarse voice "The door's disappeared Ginny! _We can't get out_!"

Ginny raced over to him and ran her hands desperately over the area of wall where the door to the Room of Requirement had been when they'd entered. Sure enough it was now just a seamless blank stretch of wall making up the rest of the log cabin. They looked at each other, panting with frustration, trying to work out what to do next. The irony was not lost on Harry that such a short time ago he was looking at Ginny and panting with lust instead. It seemed like forever ago. Now they were trapped in here because of the lust that had led them in here in the first place and he wasn't sure how he was ever going to get them out. It was all his fault again.

He had a sudden flash of inspiration and swept her out of the way with one arm. "Ginny, get back." he urged. He was reaching into his pocket for his wand. "Stand well clear - I'm going to try and blast us out." He pointed his wand at the wall and prepared to utter the "Bombarda" incantation that he'd remembered Hermione putting to very effective use when they'd rescued Sirius from his prison at the top of the tower – snatching him mere moments before he would have fallen prey to the Dementor's foul clutches…

"Harry - wait, please! Look...it's happening again…" Ginny was backing away from him, moving back into the room again and stopping by the big window again. Her eyes were pleading, and she looked alternately at him and then back at the room. He followed her gaze then walked slowly and warily over to where she was standing so he could see what was going on...

The room had started to shimmer again and the subtle changes were once again taking place all around them. The tone of the room seemed to alter and the personal items that had appeared previously were slowly dissolving. Now it was back to looking like a blank canvas; the way it had looked back when they'd first entered and the room had appealed to Harry so much. It seemed like an eternity ago. He glanced over at the corner where they'd originally entered. The room was back to normal, but the exit had still not reappeared. Harry felt Ginny grab his hand and squeeze it. He whipped his head back round to see the room begin to shimmer again...

This time, the room and it's furnishings remained basically the same as before, but as the personal items appeared one by one, Harry could tell that they were going to be watching a totally different scenario from the one before and resigned himself to staying to see what unfolded this time.

The atmosphere had changed too. It somehow seemed lighter and he felt a sense of less foreboding _"Yeah, well. The last one seemed to start out alright"_ he thought wryly _"and look where that one got me"_ He glanced down at Ginny and tried to read her expression, wondering why she was so interested. She was standing close, slightly in front of him and was still holding his hand tightly, but otherwise she seemed oblivious to him. She was watching the scene unfolding in front of them with a rapt expression.

Harry saw a broom appear next to the cabin's front door and could have sworn it was his Firebolt; it had the distinctive tail modifications he'd made to it himself when he'd been made Quidditch Captain. A set of dark, formal Auror's robes hung on a hook near the door, but they were odd; they didn't bear the official crest of the Ministry like the ones he'd seen on the formal robes worn by all the other Aurors he knew. These had a crest on the back that he didn't recognise, and couldn't quite make out from where he was standing. He squinted and thought it looked a bit like a Hippogriff in flight and he could just make out the letters "S.A.S" in elaborate lettering beneath it. Nevertheless, the style and cut of the robes was unmistakable. He knew what to look for, after all. For years now he'd nursed a private ambition to eventually become an Auror and couldn't imagine himself ever doing anything else as a career. He made a mental note to check out the robes as soon as he could.

As he watched, he noted with growing confusion other items gradually appearing that seemed to belong to him. Hedwig and her cage materialized over by one wall. Harry saw what looked like his Invisibility Cloak draped casually over the end of one of the couches. He managed a sheepish half-smile; he knew that if he ever had a place of his own it would be unbearably messy and things would just end up where they happened to fall. (Even something as important as the cloak, that should have been stashed somewhere safe).

Various books on famous Aurors and Defence Against the Dark Arts that he'd had his eye on lately and was thinking of buying next time he could get to Flourish and Blott's, he was now surprised to see lining the bookshelves over on one wall. Along with these were a whole load of other books which he couldn't ever see himself reading and wondered what on earth they were doing there. They looked like the sort of trashy romance novels that Mrs Weasley bought; with scantily-clad young witches in passionate clinches with rakish- looking warlocks on the covers.

As Harry pondered this aspect of the new decor, he noticed more and more stuff appearing that could only be described as distinctly "girly". A stack of magazines on the table; "Witch Weekly" in amongst copies of "Which Broom" and "Auror's Digest". Fluffy purple cushions resembling Arnold the Pygmy Puff appeared on the handsome dragon skin couches. Pretty, decorative candles and beautifully coloured crystals appeared to be littering various surfaces and making what, he supposed, would be considered attractive displays. _"If you like that sort of thing..."_ he frowned to himself.

Harry was hoping the room would stop shimmering soon so that he could go up to the mantelpiece again and examine the new pictures that had appeared there. He couldn't quite make out what was in them from where he was standing, but he was pretty sure he could see a man in them with glasses on and wondered if they were more pictures of his Dad, although this time he had a feeling they wouldn't be. He was eager to see, but not so eager to touch the shimmering light as he wasn't sure what would happen to either of them if they did so while the room was still morphing. He decided not to risk it after the shocks he'd had so far today.

He was so intent on trying to decipher what was in the pictures from a distance, whilst also glancing around and keeping an eye on any new items that appeared, that he nearly died of shock when he saw someone suddenly stride into the room through the front door at the other end of the cabin. That someone being unmistakably Harry, albeit a slightly bigger and older Harry…

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Chapter 7 - "A Future Glimpse" to follow...

Hungarian Horntail - England, 2005


	7. Chapter 7 A Future Glimpse

**"The Prophecy Undone"**

**Chapter 7 - A Future Glimpse...**

Harry and Ginny both gasped and glanced at each other incredulously when they saw him, but otherwise stood mute and rooted to the spot. _"This is even weirder than when Hermione and I used the Time-Turner."_ thought Harry and felt all the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Older Harry looked to be in about his mid-twenties and was now taller and more muscular, but still with the trademark unruly hair that was now longer and quite edgy looking, giving him a slightly dangerous air - a bit like a young Sirius. Harry noticed that the longer hair seemed to cover the lightning bolt scar very effectively and made a mental note.

The figure of the older Harry seemed slightly insubstantial and hazy, but not translucent and silvery like a ghost; he was in colour, yet didn't seem quite solid. It was like looking at an old film image superimposed badly onto a new background. The shimmering light still danced and dazzled everywhere, changing things as it went. A huge portrait of Dumbledore now dominated the wall above the fireplace, smiling down benevolently at the room occasionally, but otherwise absorbed in reading an immense thick book.

Ginny whipped her head round to look at Harry behind her to make sure he was also seeing what she was seeing. One look at his face confirmed it. Harry was still standing open-mouthed looking stunned to see his future self stride casually into the room. The older Harry was oblivious to them both standing by the window and carried on purposefully striding across the room and seemingly calling out, although he made no sound. "Wow, Harry... This is _so_ weird...", Ginny said. She sounded really spaced out. "You look _really_ cool though…" she breathed quietly in an awestruck whisper. Her statement didn't seem to demand an answer, so Harry kept quiet, lost for words, but thrilled that she thought he looked cool, as he'd privately thought so too. He saw the older Harry wave at Dumbledore's portrait as he came in. Dumbledore waved back genially in greeting, then returned to his book.

The older Harry was wearing similar Auror's robes to the ones hanging up by the door. Although these looked plainer and didn't sport the Hippogriff crest on the back, but they still had the "S.A.S" logo - this time on the front - over the left breast in a discreet colour so that it didn't stand out too much. Harry also noticed that his older self seemed to be sporting more scars; namely a thick red rope-like weal that started just under his right ear and curved down over his throat, disappearing into the top of his shirt. He called out soundlessly again; neither he nor Ginny could make out what he was saying.

Harry watched his future self move casually around the room leaving a trail of mess in his wake; haphazardly dumping a bundle of what looked like newspapers and documents onto one of the small tables. The topmost item on the pile looked like an official Ministry report binder (he'd seen some like it in Mr Weasley's office when he'd gone to the Ministry for his hearing) but the Ministry crest was also curiously absent from it and it too showed the 'S.A.S' logo, like the robes. Older Harry was now removing his robes and tie and chucking them inconsequentially over the back of a chair before sinking down into one of the dragon skin couches and extricating a fluffy cushion from beneath him, tossing it absently onto the floor whilst kicking off his heavy boots and leaving them strewn on the hearth rug.

Harry had already realised that they would not be able to interact with his older self - the same as if he were viewing a memory through a Pensieve, although this was somehow different. A Pensieve would show a person's memory exactly as the event had occurred, but if what this room was showing was correct, then it seemed to be showing them future events. Harry hadn't yet come across anything in his magical education that could do that and it was fair to say that Professor Trelawney presented the art of discerning future events in such a dubious way that he'd given up on Divination almost from the outset. But this felt so different - reassuring somehow. It was as if the room had been storing the information, consciously lying in wait for them and was now just deliberately showing selected snapshots and odd snatches of events; little bits of the puzzle that were meant for them alone that he and Ginny would have to sort through and piece together for themselves. He still couldn't quite work out what the significance of this scene was though and wished he could hear what was going on. Older Harry was now looking up at Dumbledore's portrait from the couch and appeared to be in conversation with it.

Just then, a door over in a far corner opposite them opened and an older Ginny suddenly rushed out, flinging herself at Harry who'd jumped up off the couch to meet her effusive greeting. She was wearing nothing but a towel and looked like she'd just stepped from the bath; her long flaming hair clung to her back like a sleek wet curtain. She looked stunning and Harry couldn't take his eyes off her. She was most definitely all woman now. Older Harry grabbed her as she flung herself at him and lifted her off the ground, swinging her round on the rug in front of the fire before setting her down and wrapping her in a tight embrace, kissing her deeply, long and hard. They pulled apart slightly and beamed at each other, the older Harry pushing the wet strands of hair gently back from her eyes. Dumbledore had hastily and discreetly disappeared behind his huge book in the portrait.

Ginny had seemed to sway on the spot when she saw her older self come pelting into the room and Harry managed to catch her just before she crumpled, pulling her tight against him and steadying her. His heart had leapt when he'd seen their other selves together as adults and was eager now to see what happened next. He leaned right back into the deep windowsill and made himself comfortable, pulling Ginny with him and propping her next to him. He felt her sag against his side and pulled her close to comfort her, shushing her gently, but hardly taking his eyes off the scene in front of them. Ginny's face had turned white with shock and contrasted harshly with her flaming hair. Harry could understand how she must feel seeing this after recalling what the room had thrown at him so far today, but was too mesmerized by what he was seeing to give Ginny much attention.

He stroked her hair absently and turned his attention back to the older couple in front of them. They were still standing in front of the fire with their arms around each other, just talking and laughing, but looking extremely happy and radiantly in love. The older Harry was now grinning down at Ginny and messing about trying to dry her hair with a jet of hot air from the tip of his wand, which Ginny kept pushing playfully away whilst laughing all the while. Harry smiled to himself contentedly and acknowledged that he didn't need to hear what was being said any more to understand what he was seeing this time - just as the scene shimmered and began to morph once again.

This time the only light in the room was from the huge open fire and the older couple lay naked on the rug in front of it, entwined in each other's arms in the throes of passion. Dumbledore's portrait was empty. Ginny's long burnished hair was spread out all over the rug behind her like a corona; reflecting all the colours of the fire, making it seem as if her hair itself was aflame. The subtle fire lit glow perfectly highlighted the contrast of Ginny's heavenly curves against Harry's defined muscular perfection. Ginny's head was thrown back in ecstasy as Harry kissed the smooth porcelain skin of her neck that seemed to gleam like marble in the firelight. He was thrusting slowly and purposefully between her thighs. Harry reared up so that he could thrust harder and the rope-like scar they'd seen on his throat earlier was now vivid and raised in the firelight, like a serpent uncoiling from his behind his ear and snaking down his otherwise smooth taut chest to end near his navel. The older Ginny's hand reached up to caress Harry's back and pull him down onto her again… Neither of the voyeurs could miss the huge ruby and opal engagement ring sparkling with dazzling intensity on her hand in the dancing firelight; like it was made of molten fire, just like Ginny's hair...

The real Harry and Ginny both felt their breath quicken as they took in the mesmerizing scene being played out in front of them. They broke off staring at the lovers to gaze at each other - to try and make out what the other was thinking and feeling - wordlessly acknowledging what they were seeing. Neither of them could move; they felt as if they'd been stupefied and glued to the spot. The air between them felt thick and heavy with desire.

The room changed again and this time, although it was night again, the cabin was lit up with a vibrant glow that came from a huge chandelier above them. The front door of the cabin was flung open again and the older Harry burst in wearing handsome dress robes and a beaming smile, carrying a radiant Ginny who wore a stunning wedding dress. As the older Harry carried Ginny over the threshold of the cabin, all the while kissing her and laughing, Harry noticed the gleam of a gold wedding band on his left hand. Dumbledore beamed down at the scene from his portrait over the fire. Harry's heart skipped a beat when he realised that next to Dumbledore - Sirius now stood also; grinning down at his older self and Ginny with hearty approval and exchanging proud and happy looks with Dumbledore. A feeling of utter joy came over Harry at seeing Sirius again. Harry tore his eyes from Sirius and watched his future self carry Ginny across the cabin through to the bedroom, depositing her gently like a priceless treasure onto the huge welcoming four-poster bed and leaning down to kiss her. The bedroom door swung shut behind them...

The scene changed again to now show Harry and Ginny standing together looking blissful and gazing out of another window a little further down the cabin, both of them seemingly lost in thought. Harry stood behind his wife with his arms wrapped around her waist, the gold wedding band on his finger glinting in the sunlight coming in from the window. Ginny turned slightly and looked up at him adoringly, reaching up with one hand to cup his face and kiss him, the older Harry leaning down to meet her kiss and cradling her closely from behind - lovingly caressing his wife's now obviously swollen belly...

The images were coming thick and fast now, some of them overlapping. Image after image of their lives was playing out before them blurrily, like a film being speeded up. The room seemed to be reaching the climax of the message that it had been trying to convey and just seemed to be waiting for them to grasp the point before finally releasing them.

They saw a fleeting glimpse of themselves sat in front of the fire, a small auburn haired child sitting on the floor between them, staring up with a rapt expression on its face as Harry made several coloured balls spin in mid-air just above the baby's head. Ginny was looking on and smiling. The baby was giggling madly and trying to swipe clumsily at the balls that remained just out of reach of its pudgy little arms. Sirius waved down from the portrait trying to attract the baby's attention whilst Dumbledore beamed serenely down at them all...

Now it was Christmas and the room looked magical with spectacular decorations sparkling everywhere you looked. The older Harry and Ginny crossed the room together (the baby in Ginny's arms) to open the door and greet the visitors who were just arriving. Hagrid lumbered into the cabin, an old and arthritic looking Fang the Boarhound ambling behind at his heels. Hagrid, his hair and beard now flecked with wiry tufts of grey, ruffled the baby's head gently with his spade-like hand and twinkled down at him. Hagrid carried a huge Christmas tree under his arm that looked like he'd just uprooted it from outside the cabin and proceeded to drag it into the room and plonk it down in a far corner. Now that Hagrid had moved away from the doorway, Harry and Ginny could see their older selves greeting the succession of other visitors who now trooped through the door.

Mr & Mrs Weasley were first - looking older, but healthier and more content than Harry had seen them look in years - rushing in out of the cold, they enveloped Ginny, Harry and the baby in stifling hugs; Mrs Weasley's face shining with happiness as she took the baby from Ginny and wandered off into the cabin cooing to it in delight. Mr Weasley following carefully behind, balancing a huge stack of brightly coloured presents in the air in front of him on the end of his wand.

Ron and Hermione followed next, looking happy, but slightly flustered as they each had a tight hold on two small wriggling flame-haired girls with bushy looking plaits who were so identical they looked like book-ends. The little twins were jumping up and down with excitement at the sight of Harry and Ginny and were desperately trying to free themselves from their parents' firm grip. The little girls both hugged Harry and Ginny eagerly and then raced into the cabin and caught up with Mrs. Weasley and the baby, running rings round their Grandmother's legs like a pair of excited little terriers, trying to reach up and fuss the baby. Ron and Hermione rolled their eyes, but beamed indulgently over at their children as they both greeted Harry and Ginny warmly before wandering in to make themselves at home.

Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks were last through the door and Harry watched his older self greet Lupin enthusiastically with a hearty hug and slap on the back. Tonks shrugged off her "S.A.S" Auror's cloak and handed it to Ginny who hung it up quickly, before leading Tonks off into the cabin and catching up with Hermione; the young women all whispering and giggling to each other conspiratorially and clearly very happy to see one another again. Harry didn't think he'd ever seen Lupin looking so well. He too looked older, but well cared for and immaculately groomed; the previously thin and haggard expression gone from his face. He was also wearing the handsome dark 'S.A.S.' Auror's robes which, coupled with his greying hair, lent him a very distinguished and assured air.

The scene continued to show the men all sitting around the fire with drinks, deep in serious conversation. The young women were over in the far corner, now joking and gossiping and collectively decorating the enormous Christmas tree that Hagrid had brought; conjuring spectacular decorations from thin air with their wands and settling them artfully all over the tree until it sparkled and dazzled magnificently. Mrs Weasley was over in the kitchen fussing expertly over an impressive succession of pots, pans and dishes that floated constantly around her in a flurry of activity.

The twins played happily with the baby on the rug by the fire, next to the ancient and now toothless Fang who'd sprawled himself out contentedly and was fast asleep with his gummy chops resting on Hagrid's boots, drooling copiously all over them.

The men all seemed to be deep in discussion about something important and had earnest and eager expressions on their faces. Dumbledore's portrait looked as if it were also in on the proceedings and seemed to be chairing the gathering, Sirius was standing by Dumbledore's side in the portrait and actively joining-in the discussions. The group were handing round and discussing several newspapers that had incredible headlines emblazoned on them - Harry and Ginny could clearly see what they said all the way over from where they still sat on the chilly window ledge and were astounded by what they proclaimed:-

**"ELITE AUROR GROUP BREAK-AWAY FROM MINISTRY - NEW 'S.A.S.' FACTION LED BY POTTER!" **

Another hailed:-

**"POTTER'S "S.A.S" REMAIN DEFIANT – MINISTRY POWERLESS TO OPPOSE THEM AS PUBLIC OFFERS OVERWHELMING SUPPORT." **

Another proclaimed the following:-

**" 'SPECIAL AUROR STRIKEFORCE' STAGE RAID ON DEATH-EATER HIDEOUT!" **

**"76 MORE NOW HELD IN AZKABAN UNDER STRICT NEW SECURITY MEASURES" **

Yet another boasted:-

**" 'S.A.S' GAINING GROUND - COULD VOLDEMORT'S POWER FINALLY BE ON THE WANE?"**

And so it continued in the same vein...

**" 'S.A.S.' MEMBERSHIP GROWS DRAMATICALLY - 'S.A.S' NOW OUTNUMBERS KNOWN DEATH-EATERS"**

**" 'S.A.S.' POLICE THE STREETS IN THESE DARK TIMES"**

Harry and Ginny still sat wordlessly on the windowsill together, unaware and uncaring as to how much time had actually passed. Ginny was leaning against Harry contentedly, her breathing now slow and quiet like his. He knew without having to say anything that she'd understood exactly what the room had been showing them - as he now did.

He finally understood what Dumbledore had been telling him all along about why love was such important magic and that he'd do well to embrace it, not underestimate it the way Voldemort always had. He'd been shown this place so that he could see how his life had had been overflowing with love at the beginning - in this very place. He'd been shown so that he'd finally grasp how and why love had saved him as a baby and kept him safe over the years (even if he'd felt like it had been a stranger to him for most of his life, until lately). He understood now what Dumbledore had been saying about the Prophecy and to not set too much store by it - it could only influence his future if he chose to follow it. Harry realized now that his future would be assured if he embraced love - and the cabin was the key; it had held love from the beginning and it would hold love again when he returned to it to make it his own.

He could lead a normal, happy life with the woman he loved and raise his family in a safe and loving environment, as long as he found the cabin and made it his. He guessed that he'd probably have to start at Godric's Hollow and work from there to try and trace it, but he felt a warm glow inside because he knew for certain now that the cabin existed, that it was his by right and that he would one day soon find it. He now felt its inexorable pull and he knew fate would eventually lead him there. Now he just had to begin the journey…

Harry sat contented, letting his thoughts drift, basking in the knowledge that come what may, he would have a future as long as he found this place - Prophecy or no Prophecy. He realised that love had led him here – without declaring his love for Ginny to the Room of Requirement when he'd tried to enter, it wouldn't have admitted him – he'd passed the test that proved he was capable of love. He fleetingly wondered if perhaps Dumbledore had set the test and placed all this here under enchantment as a lesson, then just waited for the day when Harry would inevitably stumble across it and set the whole thing into motion...

The Room of Requirement had fulfilled its purpose admirably and given Harry exactly what he'd needed - and more than he'd ever imagined. He'd naively begun this adventure by seeking a place where he and Ginny could steal a few passionate hours together; a welcome respite from the weight of the impending fulfilment of the Prophecy and the fact that he'd have to eventually face Voldemort in the ultimate showdown - why shouldn't he and Ginny seek solace in each other's arms with that hanging over them? _"After all, we could all be dead tomorrow" _he'd thought fervently at the time, but he now realised that their prior urgency for consummation was no longer important. It could wait; they now had all the time in the world...

He regretfully acknowledged to himself that at some point soon, he and Ginny might have to suspend their growing relationship temporarily until he could work out how and when the inevitable fight with Voldemort might come – he didn't want her to be in mortal danger again because of their involvement. However, none of that mattered now that he'd seen what could be between them in the future. Ginny would understand. They had time - it didn't have to be now.

He glanced over at the corner where they'd originally entered the room (so long ago now it seemed) and casually noted that the exit had reappeared. He was in no hurry though, he wanted to stay and drink it all in with his eyes and let its memory keep him strong in times ahead. He brought his gaze back into the room and snuggled closer to Ginny on the deep windowsill, both of them content to watch stream after stream of images that continued to show their lives... **their future**... and how it was now assured. _He now knew that he had one. It was enough..._

The End

**Story by Hungarian Horntail - England, July 2005**

**Disclaimer: Concept of "Harry Potter", the "Pottyverse" and all characters - owned by J.K. Rowling. Song Lyrics by Coldplay. **

**None of it's mine - I don't claim to own any of it, so don't sue! - Hungarian Horntail. **


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